NOTES AND NEWS. 



from the former especially, if space permitted, we should wish to dwell upon and cull 

 items interesting to our readers, as for instance the discovery of a bone in the county 

 of Durham. Regarding the remains of the Great Auk, the author has prepared 

 complete lists of skins, eggs, bones, &c., and has been at considerable trouble to 

 ascertain the history of each specimen, and in addition, an indication is given as to 

 the location and ownership of them. 



A woodcut of the Great Auk in the Central Park Museum, New York, forms 

 a frontispiece, a couple of admirable coloured plates of the eggs in the Edinburgh 

 Museum, and a few woodcuts add to the attractiveness of a book whose typography 

 and general get up leave nothing to be desired. 



The author is to be congratulated on the evident thoroughness displayed in working 

 up his subject from its literature, British and Continental, and also on having obtained 

 the aid of naturalists having a special knowledge of the subject, or who have taken 

 interest in the fate of A lea impeiinis. The result of this commendable zeal is not 

 only eminently satisfactory, but in addition is of surpassing interest, not only to 

 the naturalist and the archaeologist, on whom it has the strongest of claims, but 

 the general reader too will find its pages worthy of perusal. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The last report of the Manchester Scientific Students' Association contains 

 a photographic portrait and memoir of Mr. John Hardy, who died on the 15th 

 September, 18S4, at Manchester, at the age of 67. He was an all-round, active, 

 and indefatigable naturalist, of whose career two counties in the north may well 

 feel proud. A York man by birth, and a resident in his native county till 1848, 

 he then accepted a post in Manchester, where he continued to live and work to 

 the end of his days. His notable achievements date so far back as 1843, when, 

 being at that time resident in Sheffield, he added to the British list Achillcea 

 tanacetifolia ; and in 1866 he was similarly instrumental as regards Leiicojiivi 

 vermim, a Dorsetshire plant. In respect of zoology, he wrote in 1864 a list of 

 British mollusca, with localities assigned to the Manchester species, and the 

 reports of the Scientific Students' Association include numerous papers from 

 him. His collections have partly passed into the museum of the Owens College, 

 while the recollection of his fascinating personal qualities and of the breadth and 

 extent of his scientific knowledge will long remain with all who knew him. 



>co* 



The Bradford naturalists have lost one of their most valued and useful members, 

 Mr. John Firth, who died on the 29th of August, at the age of 53. His studies 

 were chiefly directed towards birds and lepidoptera, but he took a genuine interest 

 in most departments of natural history. He was one of the promoters of the 

 Bradford Naturalists' Society in August, 1875, was elected its first vice-president, 

 succeeding to the presidency in 1878, and has held office of some kind or other down 

 to the last. In 1880, when the society defined a somewhat extensive area for in- 

 vestigation, and appointed recorders for the various departments for investigation, 

 Mr. Firth became recorder in Vertebrate Zoology. The Bradford district in 1875. 

 the year which witnessed the foundation of the Bradford Naturalists' Society, was 

 purely 'virgin ground' so far as the lepidoptera were concerned, a circumstance 

 which afforded Mr. Firth and his friends, especially Mr. J. W. Carter (to whom 

 his friend's decease will be a bitter personal loss), an excellent opportunity, and one 

 well made use of, for doing sound original work. Amongst the most interesting of 

 the captures which rewarded their zeal may be mentioned those of Lai-entia salicata. 

 L. olivata, Geometra papilionaria, Emvielesia affinitata, Acronycta menyantJiidis, 

 and Notodonta didcea, all of which, and more, were added to the local lists by 

 Mr. Firth. He always took great interest in handing in his records, was strictly 

 accurate in all his work, and evinced great pride in helping beginners, both with 

 specimens and information. Before he lived in Bradford he was one of the founders 

 of the Clayton West Naturalists' Society, and was for some time a member of the 

 one at Heckmondwike. During the early years of what is now known as the 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, but at that time called the West Riding Consolidated 

 Naturalists' Society, he took an active personal share in its work. At his funeral a 

 beautiful wreath of flowers from the Bradford Naturalists' Society testified to the 

 respect and esteem in which he was held by his fellow members, feelings which will 

 be shared by many naturalists in Yorkshire and elsewhere on hearing of his death. 

 Oct. 1885. 



